The Awakening

by Ryan Sova

  Seeing Phile’s discomfort, the woman smiled then spoke to Phile in a gentle voice, “Now, now Phile. You see, death isn’t such a bad thing. Once you get over the initial shock of it that is.”

  While Phile was distracted by the woman, Gaffari lunged from behind and caught Phile with a savage blow, removing both legs at the kneecap. This blow was delivered with such force that it carried Phile’s body forward causing him to land on his own severed legs.

  Phile screamed and writhed on the ground. Makkah, Gaffari, and Rabbiel gathered around Phile, lifted their swords over Phile’s body and started stabbing him repeatedly. This continued until the screams at last stopped.

  CHAPTER 9

  Nephal woke up. He paused a moment trying to make sense of what he had just witnessed. It was if he had just awoken from someone else’s dream. His actions, even his thoughts were not his own throughout the dream. As Nephal was pondering this strange dream, one thing became abundantly clear. If what I saw was real, people need to be warned.

  Nephal wasted no time. He jumped to his feet and raced out of the door. Nephal walked to Atonick’s room as quickly as he could but was limited as to how fast he could travel. It was still dark outside, and at this hour there was almost no light inside the inn. Finally, Nephal arrived at Atonick’s door.

  Nephal pounded frantically on the door. After a few moments, the door opened. Atonick was wearing his blue night robe and had clearly just awoken from a deep sleep.

  Atonick waited at the open door, trying to regain his composure, then asked, “What is it?”

  Nephal answered, “I am sorry to disturb you at this hour but…”

  A familiar chill went down Nephal’s spine causing him to stop his request mid-sentence. There was a short pause between both men.

  Atonick’s facial expression changed abruptly in the mere few moments of silence they both had. Atonick was suddenly wide awake and, when he answered Nephal, there was a sense of alarm in his voice, “I can feel it too! Come on, let’s go!”

  Atonick raced out of the room and then paused momentarily to turn to Nephal and say, “Whatever happens. Stay close to me.”

  Atonick turned away from Nephal and started speaking in some foreign tongue. As he chanted, other voices that appeared seemingly out of nowhere joined the chant, causing a strange eerie echo. Nephal remembered this strange language from the lizard attack they faced on the road to Cambridge. The language was that of magic. At the end of Atonick’s chanting, he traced a symbol in the air in front of him and then stretched his open hand to the ceiling. A glowing ball of light materialized in Atonick’s open hand then hovered above his head. The light was exceptionally bright and filled the nighttime hallway of the inn with light.

  As soon as Atonick was finished with his enchantment, he raced down the hallway towards the feeling of dread that was ever more intensifying. The ball of light that Atonick had just conjured followed him down the hallway, still hovering over his head. Nephal quickly followed after Atonick, staying as close to the sorcerer as he could, just as Atonick had instructed.

  Atonick reached the stairwell leading to the first floor when he paused. The feeling of horror was now overwhelming. Nephal tried his best to calm himself, although all he wanted to do was to run back to his room and hide.

  Atonick whispered under his breath, “They're coming this way.”

  Atonick whispered a chant in the language of magic. The same eerie echo of invisible voices returned. Atonick’s speech was at first slow, quiet and calm. However, in the middle of his chant, he raised his voice and rapidly increased the speed at which he delivered his speech to the invisible voices all around Nephal and Atonick. As his voice raised and his magical speech reached its climax, Atonick extended his hand and quickly traced a symbol in the air in front of him. Nephal did not recognize the magical symbols that Atonick was tracing, but realized that this symbol was vastly different from the one he used to conjure the ball of light.

  As Atonick’s voice rose, Nephal heard footsteps running up the stairs towards them. Nephal gasped in terror and threw himself backwards into the wall behind him, the gut-wrenching terror that the undead were emanating now consumed him.

  Immediately upon tracing his arcane symbol in the air, Atonick drew his hand back and approached the top of the stairwell. Atonick’s hand burst into flames, however, the flames did not seem to harm him in any way. Once Atonick reached the top of the stairs, he whipped his arm in a throwing motion and projected a small ball of fire down the stairs at the approaching undead.

  The entire building rocked at the sound of a deafening explosion. Within seconds, a raging inferno quickly engulfed the entire ground level of the inn. Nephal heard the sound of several people tumbling down the stairs immediately following the explosion. The feeling of horror quickly subsided as the distance between him and the undead increased, but even so, it was still there. Nephal separated himself from the wall and considered, for a moment, returning to Atonick’s side.

  Atonick paid Nephal absolutely no heed and quickly descended the stairs in pursuit of the undead. Nephal chased after Atonick trying to stay at his side as he had been instructed to do but paused when he reached the top of the stairs.

  The entire first floor, as well as half of the stairwell, was in flames. Intense heat and thick smoke rose from the stairwell below him. Nephal was forced to back away from the stairwell as the heat was too intense for him to bear. Smoke was quickly filling the hallway Nephal was standing in but had not reached the point of being unbearable as of yet. Before retreating from the stairwell, Nephal observed Atonick descending the stairs into the flames below. The raging inferno didn’t seem to affect either Atonick or his clothing and he walked effortlessly into the flames.

  As Nephal backed away from the stairs, he heard the same eerie echo following Atonick. Atonick was already preparing his next spell.

  From a distance in the room below, Nephal heard a woman’s voice yell, “We have lost the element of surprise. Quickly, we need to go, now!”

  Several doors in the hallway where Nephal was standing opened. People quickly swarmed the hallway, curious to find out what the cause of the commotion was. Nephal was dumbfounded by the events that had just happened and said nothing to the people who were quickly filling the hallway.

  No one paid any attention to Nephal and instead spoke only about the smoke and fire below. Nephal wordlessly watched the commotion all around him as panic quickly broke out among the several people who were still swarming the hallway.

  The panicked yelling of the men in the upstairs hallway was instantly extinguished by the sound of several screams from the floor below. The screams were unearthly and came in an extremely high pitched sound that pierced the ears of all that heard it. As the screams reached their full volume, everyone in the hallway covered their ears in an attempt to block out the intense and painful sounds that filled the inn.

  After the unearthly screaming had ended, no one dared to say a word and stood where they were, just as dumbfounded as Nephal was. There was an eerie silence in the inn that was only broken by an occasional cough brought on by the smoke that was still filling the hallway. Nephal noticed in that moment that the horror feeling the undead were generating was now gone.

  All around Nephal, there were at least thirty people now crowding the hallway. The hallway was dimly lit by the light that the fires below were generating and Nephal could barely make out faces of the people who were around him. The dumbfounding effect that the unearthly screams caused was now starting to wear off on the crowds. People were again starting to panic about how they were going to escape the building alive.

  Frantic yelling quickly returned and doors swung open and closed as people desperately tried to figure out how they were going to get everyone out of the Inn alive. Then silence returned again as the hallway quickly descended back into darkness. After a few moments, someone quietly whispered out of the darkness to the crowd, “The fires, they have all been extinguished.”

>   After a few moments of complete silence, a piercing white light came into view hovering above a man dressed in a blue robe. Atonick silently climbed the stairs to the second floor that was crowded with people who were still too astonished to say a word. As Atonick reached the top of the stairs, one of the men standing in the hallway spoke to him. “What happened down there?” the man asked.

  Atonick gave him no reply and continued on, walking past him. The hallway was now completely lit up due to the magical light above Atonick’s head. The men in the hallway moved aside as Atonick approached, clearing a path for him. Now that Atonick was close, Nephal realized that Atonick looked to be very exhausted and also extremely agitated.

  Nephal’s attention was drawn back to the first floor by the sound of a loud bang from a door being thrown open. A large obese man was standing in the middle of the floor just past the entryway. Nephal could tell instantly that he was not another undead as there was no feeling of horror that accompanied him. The man was holding a lamp, which was the only reason Nephal could see him. The man walked around the first floor, surveying the damage. Suddenly, Nephal realized who this man was. His name was Joffrey and he was the owner of the inn.

  Joffery approached the stairs and screamed up at Atonick, “ATONICK, WHAT THE HELL HAPPENED HERE!”

  Atonick gave no reply, nor did he acknowledge Joffery’s presence.

  Joffery addressed Atonick again, “YOU STUCK UP SON OF A BITCH, LOOK AT ME!”

  Atonick paused where he was. There was a look of rage on his face. He turned his attention to a group of soldiers that were standing next to him and when he spoke, it was in a tone that was only slightly louder than a whisper. “Shut him up!”

  The soldiers jumped into action like their very lives depended on it. They had never seen Atonick like this before and it frightened them more than anything. Four men raced down the stairs to silence Joffery as they had been instructed to do.

  As the men approached, Joffery began screaming his next obscenity to Atonick but was interrupted in the attempt by a punch to the chest. Joffery doubled over and dropped his lantern on the floor. One of the soldiers immediately picked it up to prevent another fire from breaking out in the inn. The other three soldiers then threw Joffery to the floor and started kicking him repeatedly. After a short, ten second beating, the soldiers picked Joffery up by his arms and forcefully walked him out of the building.

  Nephal had been standing by the stairwell, watching the altercation with Joffery when he heard Atonick’s voice from down the hallway. “Nephal, you're with me.”

  Nephal turned from the stairwell and began pushing through the crowd to reach where Atonick was. Once he had reached Atonick, he realized that Eliak was also there accompanying Atonick. The two men followed Atonick to his room. Atonick then opened the door and spoke to Nephal and Eliak. “Come in then close the door behind you.”

  Once the three men were finally alone in Atonick’s room, he addressed both Nephal and Eliak. “There is one more spell that needs to be cast, but my energy is all but spent. So I am going to need your help. I must inform the Council of what has just happened here tonight. I will begin a chant, then go into a trance. Your job will be to keep me from collapsing. I have barely enough energy left for this spell and my body might collapse during the trance because of how drained I am. If my body collapses during the trance, I will lose my concentration and will then be too exhausted to try again. That must not happen, for all of our sakes! I am counting on the two of you.”

  Eliak answered, “I understand, whatever you need me to do, you can count on me.”

  Atonick answered, “Okay then, both of you take my arms. Once we are all prepared, I will begin the chant.”

  Nephal and Eliak positioned themselves on either side of Atonick and held firmly onto both of his arms. Once the men had positioned themselves, Atonick said, “Maintain a loose grip on me for now. I am going to need to be able to move my arms freely in order to complete the spell. Just be prepared to catch me if my strength leaves me suddenly.”

  Both men nodded to Atonick, acknowledging that they understood his directions. There was a slight pause, then Atonick began his chant. Atonick’s chant carried on for the space of nearly three minutes (significantly longer than any other spell chant Nephal had witnessed up to this point).

  The strange eerie voices that had accompanied Atonick every time that he spoke in the language of magic returned again and remained for the full duration of this chant. Nephal and Eliak remained wordless, quietly observing the magical chant. Nephal then noticed something that he had never realized before. The strange voices were not just some kind of background noise. Atonick was actually talking to them. Nephal could not understand a word of what was being said, but after carefully watching the exchange between the invisible voices and Atonick, Nephal was certain that they were talking to each other. At the end of the chant, Atonick traced four separate symbols in the air in front of him and then let his arms fall back to his sides.

  The room went silent, with the exception of all the commotion that was still occurring out in the hallway. Atonick stood where he was, staring at the wall in front of him at the end of the room. After a few moments, Nephal turned to look at Atonick’s face. His face was devoid of any emotion and his eyes stared blankly in front of him. There didn’t seem to be any life in him. He had the look of a corpse lying in a casket, staring blankly at the ceiling.

  Nephal and Eliak remained quietly where they were, positioned to hold Atonick up if his strength suddenly failed him. A short while after Atonick started his trance, the light he had conjured faded and then disappeared completely. The room then descended into darkness. This darkness only lasted for a few minutes, though. Atonick’s bedroom window let in moonlight from the nighttime sky outside. After a short while, Nephal’s eyes adjusted to the low lighting in the room and Nephal could see clearly again.

  For a time, it seemed like Atonick’s concerns were in vain. However, after about ten minutes into Atonick’s trance his body slumped forward as his legs buckled under his own weight. Nephal and Eliak instantly responded, using their full strength to grab hold of Atonick’s arms and keep his body steady. At first, this task was not so exuberant, but the weight of Atonick’s body soon increased as all strength left his legs. Atonick was still able to somehow hold his head up, but that, it seemed, was the only muscle left in his body that still functioned. It was now more than twenty minutes into Atonick’s trance. Nephal and Eliak were breathing heavily and struggling to hold Atonick in a standing position.

  Eliak whispered a complaint to Nephal. “I had no idea that someone this skinny could weigh so much.”

  Nephal didn’t answer and the two quietly held Atonick’s body for another fifteen minutes. Nephal and Eliak were now covered in sweat and their muscles ached.

  “I can’t keep this up for much longer,” Nephal exclaimed in desperation.

  Eliak responded, “I know, my arms are cramping up real bad.”

  The two continued to hold Atonick’s body. The only sound in the room that could be heard was the sound of Nephal and Eliak breathing. Then the silence was broken.

  “He’s back,” Eliak said.

  Nephal looked up. Atonick was now looking around the room, taking in his surroundings. His facial expressions had returned and he looked to be completely exhausted. Atonick looked at the wall next to the door behind Nephal and spoke in a whisper. “Set me down and lean me against the wall back there. I want to be sitting when they arrive.”

  “Who is coming?” Eliak asked.

  Atonick responded, “The leaders of the Council and the king.”

  Nephal and Eliak wasted no time in helping Atonick move to his desired location. By the time they had Atonick in a sitting position, several flashes of light appeared all throughout the room a short distance from where the three men were now located. Several men and women appeared in the room as the flashes of light occurred, causing an instant crowd of people to appear, seemingly out of
nowhere.

  Nephal looked around and gazed at all the people that had just appeared in Atonick’s room. There were a total of fifteen men and women, ranging in age from their mid-thirties to their late eighties. Nine of the new guests were men, while six were women. Of the fifteen new guests that had just arrived, fourteen of them wore black robes that were embroidered with red runes, which looked identical to the robes that Atonick wore aside from the rune color. Five of these new guests had runes that glowed with an exceptional brightness.

  There was one man, however, whose robes were uniquely different from all the rest of the robes. This man wore white robes that glowed with an exceptional white luster. The runes on this man’s robes were red and glowed even brighter than the whiteness of his robes. As Nephal observed the man, he noticed that the man’s attire was remarkable, to say the least, but was not so bright as to make it difficult to look at him. The man had soft white hair, wrinkled skin on his face, arms, and legs due to his age, and what seemed to be a kind and pleasant demeanor. As Nephal observed him, he reckoned that this man was most likely in his late eighties or early nineties and that he was probably King Noah.

  Nephal’s thoughts were interrupted by a whisper from Atonick. Nephal and Eliak crouched down next to Atonick so that they could both hear him better.

  “What did you say?” Nephal asked.

  Atonick responded, “Kneel before the king.”

  Nephal and Eliak immediately followed Atonick’s instructions and assumed kneeling positions on the floor next to Atonick. Atonick remained sitting as he was as he was still too weak to move.

  King Noah made an upwards motion with his hands and said, “As you were gentlemen.”

  A woman standing next to King Noah commented to everyone in the room, “What happened here? Is it true that the prisoner escaped?”